By Taban Henry
A Civil Society activist has called on the government to provide security and protection to the cattle herders as they return to Bor.
This came after a high-level committee comprising Eastern Equatoria State governor, Army CDF, Police IGP and Director of National Security Services for IB converged in Nimule to mitigate the growing friction among the local farmers and pastoralists from Bor and following the deadly armed cattle raiding that took place in Mugali and Melijo payams of Magwi County.
In a statement released to the media on Monday, Edmund Yakani. the Executive Director for Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) called on the government to provide security and protection to the cattle herders as they return to Bor. adding that the likelihood of them facing cattle raiders on their way back home is high.
“The high-level committee that visited Nimule should help in clarifying the identity of the deadly cattle raiding in Mugali and Melijo payams. The identity of the raiders is not clear and contradicting identities were mentioned in separate official statements released for the public consumption. The Magwi violence is risky since it has a direct impact on food security. It needs to be resolved faster so that the communities will return to their farms than staying in IDP camps,” Yakani said.
Yakani appreciated the move citing it as a demonstration of positive response to the call made to the government to urgently prevent and investigate the deadly cattle raiding.
“The likelihood of deadly revenge attacks occurring is high and it is essential that the government gets effective in preventing occurrence of any revenge attack. The tension is growing among the farmers and Bor pastoralists communities. Deploying effective forces to prevent them from further clashes is necessary,” he added.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, CEPO condemned the renewal of violence today in Abyei Administrative area in Rumamer County–Agok town and surrounding areas. Finally, CEPO urged the national government to urgently hold national dialogue on mitigation of this increasingly armed deadly inter-communal violence across the country. Some of these incidences may amount to crimes against humanity.